• Aboriginals in North America
  • Beast Literature
  • Canadiana.1
  • Dances & Music
  • Fables and Fairy Tales
  • Fables by Jean de La Fontaine
  • Feasts & Liturgy
  • Great Books Online
  • La Princesse de Clèves
  • Middle East
  • Molière
  • Nominations
  • Posts on Love Celebrated
  • Posts on the United States
  • The French Revolution & Napoleon Bonaparte
  • Voyageurs Posts
  • Canadiana.2

Micheline's Blog

~ Art, music, books, history & current events

Micheline's Blog

Daily Archives: September 11, 2011

Those who came back

11 Sunday Sep 2011

Posted by michelinewalker in Uncategorized

≈ Comments Off on Those who came back

Tags

compassion for the tortured, compassion for the torturers, homes for the veterans, jobs for the veterans, Marcus Aurelius, meaningful lives, WordPress

In one of his Meditations, Roman Emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius (121-180 CE) wrote: “To stand up – or to be set up?” (7:1)

It could be that the United States was “set up” or provoked into invading Afghanistan and Iraq.  If so, given the consequences, the harm inflicted upon the United States is senseless and cruel in the extreme.  I am thinking of all those who were hurt, all those who suffered horrific losses, but at the moment, the fate of those who came back is foremost in my thoughts.

The United States did not find Weapons of Mass Destruction in the countries it invaded.  Nor did these countries harbor Bin Laden.  Bin Laden eluded capture for nearly ten years, to be found in Pakistan, not by soldiers, but by the intelligence community, and then seized by commandos:  the élite Navy Seals.

So today, the United States and the world mourn not only the death of the victims of the attack of September 11, 2001:  New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, but the United States and the world also mourn soldiers killed or maimed in serving their nation and veterans whose mental stability may be forever lost.   And we mourn the suffering and humiliation endured by tortured prisoners most of whom were innocent but some of whom died under torture as well as the suffering, a sense of guilt, that may forever torment the torturers.  Torture is not acceptable.

For my part, I suspect that no one won and that we may never know whether or not the United States “[stood] up” or was “set up.”

But we do know the story of 9/11.  It is the story of one devastating day, the day of the attacks, followed by years of devastation, not to mention the final bill.

I feel compassion for the families that lost a dear one or dear ones on 9/11.  I also feel compassion for the families who will never again be complete because a soldier died, as well as for the couples who are now forever separated because a soldier died.

But also, and perhaps most of all, I feel compassion for those soldiers who came back but came back to an empty world, those veterans who may be disoriented, but are physically fit, and don’t even have a job.

The dead are spoken of as heroes while many of these veterans are sleeping under bridges.  That’s not right.

So, why not make today the last day of the many days of grief that followed the attacks of 9/11?

Why not simply pay the bill—that’s just money—and let life be, perhaps not pentiful, but nevertheless generous and meaningful.

0.000000 0.000000

michelinewalker.com

  • Share on Tumblr
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • More
  • Telegram

Like this:

Like Loading...

Europa

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 2,355 other followers

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Recent Posts

  • Absence
  • Prince Philip has died: 1921-2021
  • Sir Karl Jenkins’ “L’Homme armé”
  • Guillaume Du Fay’s L’Homme armé
  • Why hast Thou forsaken me?
  • La Chanson du camionneur, Fred Pellerin
  • Didier Barbelivien chante “Jean de France”
  • Les Frères ennemis, again and again
  • The Human Condition in the Days of Covid-19
  • Covid-19: Vaccination in Quebec

Archives

Categories

Calendar

September 2011
M T W T F S S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
2627282930  
« Aug   Oct »

Social

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • WordPress.org

micheline.walker@videotron.ca

Micheline Walker

Micheline Walker

Social

Social

  • View belaud44’s profile on Facebook
  • View Follow @mouchette_02’s profile on Twitter
  • View Micheline Walker’s profile on LinkedIn
  • View belaud44’s profile on YouTube
  • View Miicheline Walker’s profile on Google+
  • View michelinewalker’s profile on WordPress.org

Micheline Walker

Micheline Walker
Follow Micheline's Blog on WordPress.com

A WordPress.com Website.

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
<span>%d</span> bloggers like this: